The Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) plans to hold a public auction Friday to sell 356 acres of land near Little Hole on the Green River near Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

The pending sale has drawn criticism from anglers and environmentalists, who do not want to see the land developed. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources also has opposed the sale, saying the land is important habitat for wildlife, particularly during the winter.

The wildlife division plans to bid at the auction Friday, said Jim Karpowitz, the division's director. The division has vowed to deny any other potential buyer access to the land.

"We are not anti-development, but this is such a key piece of habitat that we feel it is important that the Department of Wildlife Resources try to acquire it," Karpowitz said Wednesday.

Last July, the division told SITLA that it would not allow a road to pass through DWR land to the 356-acre parcel. If another buyer besides DWR prevails at the auction, Karpowitz said, the access question probably will be left to a court to resolve.

SITLA wants to lease the land to Georgia-based developer Flint Timber, which plans to build a lodge and cabins there. Flint Timber officials did not return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday. Dudley Campbell, co-owner of Spinnerfall Guide Service, a proposed partner of Flint Timber in the Little Hole project, also did not return a call seeking comment.

Karpowitz said that allowing a road through the land would violate a deed established when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation gave the land to the division to mitigate the environmental impact of the construction of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

SITLA director Kevin Carter said Wednesday that SITLA had delayed the sale of the land near Little Hole in hopes that the access problem could be resolved and because interested buyers needed more time to gather enough money to buy the land.

Carter said that Daggett County, where the parcel is located, had sent SITLA a letter saying it would pursue securing access to the land. After receiving the letter, SITLA felt comfortable going ahead with the auction, Carter said.

But access is still not guaranteed, and SITLA makes a disclaimer on its Web site stating that the land will be sold "as is," access or no access.

Karpowitz said obtaining the land for the division would create a "win-win" situation, creating money for schools and keeping the land public so that the wildlife habitat could be preserved.

Carter said all of the money made from the sale, set for auction at $1.25 million, will go to the permanent school fund, regardless of who buys it.

Paul Dremann, chairman of the governor's Blue Ribbon Fisheries Advisory Council, opposes private development on the land and said he wonders why the land is being sold at a public auction.

"There are just a whole lot of roadblocks that any commercial developer would have to go through," he said. Those problems include what to do with wastewater and how to obtain a drinking water supply. He said he hopes DWR makes the purchase.

Chris Thomas, chairman of the Utah Council of Trout Unlimited, said that he wishes the auction weren't happening at all because of the area's importance to wildlife.

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